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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said it has issued a fresh order to attach assets worth Rs 1,021 crore as part of a money laundering investigation against the Reliance Anil Ambani Group. The provisional order, issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), attaches equity shares of Reliance Power held by Reliance Infrastructure and certain loan amount receivable from Sasan Power and Reliance Power, the agency said in a statement. The investigation stems from a CBI FIR against Reliance Home Finance Limited (RHFL) and Reliance Commercial Finance Limited (RCFL). According to the ED, the probe found that public funds worth Rs 15,548 crore raised by RHFL and RCFL were "systematically diverted" through a web of "shell" (dummy) and group companies controlled and managed by the Reliance Anil Ambani Group. The ED is investigating multiple cases against the Group in connection with four FIRs filed under the anti-money laundering law, and three under provisions of th
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday conducted searches at multiple locations in Kolkata as part of an investigation linked to routing of alleged suspect funds in the bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress, officials said. They said about five premises are being covered in the capital city of West Bengal. Preliminary probe suggests that funds worth more than Rs 150 crore have been routed through aviation and travel companies, they said. Premises of Carewell Aviation and its directors and a purported electoral trust has been covered in the searches, the ED officials said.
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday alleged that gold refining and jewellery manufacturing company Rajesh Exports' key business indicators showed "significant" departures from normal commercial practices, in addition to the non-availability of records related to foreign transactions. The federal agency issued a statement after conducting searches against the Bengaluru-based company and persons linked to it on June 23 for suspected contravention of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The ED identified at least five issues against Rajesh Exports Ltd (REL) and recovered various "incriminating" documents and digital devices during the searches. The company has not yet responded to a PTI query regarding the ED action. The stock exchanges have also sought clarification from the company. Founder and Chairman of the company, Rajesh Mehta, denied any fund diversion or wrongdoing during a recent interview with PTI. He had said that the company will fully cooperate with the fresh
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday sought a clarification from gold jewellery firm Rajesh Exports Ltd over reports of searches conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at multiple locations linked to the Bengaluru-based company. The exchange's query came a day after the central agency searched nine premises connected to the firm under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). "The reply is awaited," Rajesh Exports said in a regulatory filing. The development marks a fresh escalation in the legal troubles surrounding the company, which is already facing allegations of a massive financial fraud levelled by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Rajesh Mehta, the company's Founder and Chairman, recently denied any fund diversion or wrongdoing in an interview with PTI. He said the firm would fully cooperate with the fresh forensic audit ordered by Sebi and would not challenge the market regulator's interim order against it.
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday conducted searches against Rajesh Exports which is facing scrutiny from market regulator Sebi over alleged financial irregularities, official sources said. The action is understood to have been taken under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) at the Bengaluru-headquartered company. Premises in Bengaluru and Mumbai linked to the company are being covered, they said. Rajesh Exports Ltd allegedly inflated its consolidated revenues by more than Rs 15 lakh crore over five years by attributing massive revenues to overseas subsidiaries, particularly Switzerland-based Valcambi SA, despite the subsidiary's audited standalone financial statements showing only a fraction of those amounts, according to an interim order by Sebi. The regulator has restrained the company's Chairman and Managing Director, Rajesh Mehta, from buying, selling or dealing in securities of Rajesh Exports, either directly or indirectly, until further orders. Rajesh Exports ha
A Delhi court on Saturday sent former Reliance Communications (RCom) senior executive Gautam Bhailal Doshi to five days of Enforcement Directorate custody in a money laundering case linked to alleged diversion of loan funds worth over Rs 40,000 crore. Special Judge Gaurav Rao was hearing the agency's plea seeking Doshi's custody for 14 days. Doshi was produced at the judge's residence at around 8:15 am after he was arrested and taken to Delhi from Bombay on transit remand. In its order, the court said, "Considering the submissions of ED, the nature of the allegations and to unearth the complete conspiracy as well as establish the complete fund trail, their recovery, role of other individuals involved, I deem it fit to grant 5 days' custody of the accused to the ED." The ED had sought 14 days' custodial interrogation of Doshi under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), contending that his custody was required to unearth the "complete conspiracy" behind the ...
The Enforcement Directorate has been carrying out raids since early Saturday at multiple properties, allegedly linked to TMC MLA Madan Mitra, in West Bengal as part of its money laundering investigation into municipality recruitment "irregularities", officials said. A total of seven premises allegedly linked to Mitra, a former minister in the previous TMC regime, are being searched, they said. Search operations were launched at Mitra's Bhabanipur residence in south Kolkata, alongside a five-floor apartment in Dakshineswar on the northern fringes of the city and a flat in Joka on Kolkata's southern outskirts, they said. Raids are also taking place at a property in Beleghata in north Kolkata and the premises of two local clubs in Bhabanipur and Santoshpur, the officials added. The leader was also being questioned by the investigators at his Dhirendranath Gupta Road residence in Bhabanipur, where he was reportedly staying with his family. Mitra represents the Kamarhati assembly seat
The ED, which is probing a money laundering case linked to CMRL and involving former Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter Veena T, has approached a court here seeking access to documents collected by the SFIO during its investigation into the matter. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a petition before the Special Court for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kochi seeking copies of documents gathered by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which had investigated alleged "fake" expenses admitted by Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) before the Income Tax Settlement Commission. ED sources said the documents sought by the agency include records related to Exalogic Solutions Private Limited, the company owned by Veena, which was engaged in IT consultancy services. The agency has requested the court to direct the SFIO to provide copies of documents collected during its investigation. The petition is likely to be considered next week. The ED pr
A FEMA investigation against Flipkart-backed online fashion-and-lifestyle platform Myntra has been "terminated" after the RBI issued a compounding order on the basis of a "no objection" given by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued the order on April 20 in the case of Myntra Designs Private Limited, the ED said in a statement. The central agency had initiated a probe against the e-commerce platform last year for alleged contraventions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), based on "credible" information. A compounding order in the regulatory context means a formal decision taken by an authority to settle an offence by allowing the defaulter to pay a monetary penalty instead of facing prosecution. The agency was probing the company for two alleged contraventions of the FEMA covering transactions worth about Rs 46 crore. Myntra, according to the ED, made a one-time payment of Rs 2.88 lakh to get the case compounded or closed. Compounding
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday conducted searches against the Vedanta Group as part of a FEMA probe, officials said. They said the action was going on. The searches are part of a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violation investigation, they said. More details are yet to be ascertained. An official statement from the company is awaited.
Former Reliance Communications Group managing director Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, arrested by the CBI in a multi-crore bank loan fraud case, has been lodged in Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail, officials said on Tuesday. A Mumbai court on Monday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to arrest Jhunjhunwala, who was in judicial custody in New Delhi in a related money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Considering the late hour and the accused's travel from Delhi's Tihar Jail, the court remanded him to judicial custody, with a plea for his police custody scheduled for later in the day, officials said. Jhunjhunwala, group managing director of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications Group, looked after important functions such as corporate finance, banking and utilisation of funds. The CBI has claimed that based on his directions, loan funds received from banks were managed/utilised by other officials of the RCom group. Due to misutilisation of loan funds,
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday conducted searches at the residence of former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and others as part of its investigation into the CMRL money laundering case, officials said. They said a total of 10 premsies in the state, including Vijayan's rental house in the state capital here, are being raided under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It is alleged that a private company named Cochin Minerals And Rutile Ltd (CMRL), made an illegal payment of Rs 1.72 crore to Vijayan's daughter T Veena's company -- Exalogic Solutions -- during 2018 to 2019, even though the IT firm had not provided any service to the company. On Tuesday, the Kerala High Court dismissed a petition filed by the CMRL seeking to quash the ED proceedings in the case. The ED had filed a PMLA case to probe the allegations in 2024.